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Team GB’s Men Lose Out To USA But Retain Play-off Hopes

Posted on 21 February 2018

Team Smith lost 10-4 to the USA in their final round robin match at the Olympic Games and must now beat Switzerland in a tie breaker tomorrow in order to reach the play-off stages. It was a disappointing outcome for the Games debutants who had started brightly by registering a single in the second end before securing two consecutive single steals to lead 3-2 heading into the fifth end.

However the Team GB representatives gave up a costly three before the break to find themselves chasing the American rink and after an exchange of singles, in spite of having last stone advantage at the eighth end, the GB side found themselves again under pressure. With four stones lying against him Skip Kyle Smith was unable to make his final stone count and conceded the match and the chance to progress straight to the play-offs.

They now meet the Swiss side Team de Cruz again, who they beat 6-5 n their opening round robin match and the winner of that game will meet the top ranked Swedish team in the semi final.

Kyle Smith said after the game: “We were not at our sharpest and we did not create enough chances. The ice was running a little bit differently today and I struggled a bit with draw weight and there is not much you can do about that, so I missed a couple of slack ones.

“We have still got a chance of reaching the semi final, we will re-focus and we will make sure we are ready.

Speaking about today’s result coach Viktor Kjell added: “I thought we had prepared well for this game and I thought we fought back out there after falling behind. They played great, it was the fifth end that really hurt us. That's curling.”

“It was not a bad start but it was not the best of starts and then the game slipped away from us a bit. It feels a bit disappointing now, we lost an excellent chance to qualify straight through to the play-offs. Luckily enough we've got a second life in the tie-breaker.

Commenting on playing the Swiss team in the tie breaker, the winner of which will progress to the semi final against Sweden – his former team mates – Kjell added: “We have met Switzerland many times this season and over the last couple of years so we know we'll need to step it up a little bit from that performance.

“We need to go back to how it was against Norway and especially the two games before that against Denmark and Italy.

“We'll go home, regroup, feel a bit disappointed for a few hours and then focus on then next game."